"On the Lot" Recap: Six More Comedies

"On the Lot" Recap: Six More Comedies

Did anybody else notice how many times Adrianna Costa mentioned during this week's "On the Lot" that the winner would be crowned "in just three weeks"? Three weeks! Almost done!

We now know two more people who won't be walking away with the $1 million development deal: Mateen and Kenny, just as I'd suspected. All six remaining directors showed their films tonight, which once again were short comedies. (I guess we're not doing drama on this show?) Joining the judges was Brad Silberling, director of City of Angels, Moonlight Mile and the Lemony Snicket movie. As for this week's crop of movies:

Zach was up first with The Bonus Feature, about a guy who buys a car with a DVD player that transports him an dhis girlfriend into various scenes from classic movies. Basically, it's the plot of the animated "No Time for Nuts" short, mixed with a Disney ride and a healthy dose of Spielberg. Carrie and Brad thought it needed more story; Garry said Zach might have sucked up too much Spielberg but he should be able to continue in the competition.

Adam followed that up with Girl Trouble, about a highly unusual one-night stand. And by "unusual," I mean "cross-dressing." The plot basically centered on one guy trying to convince his roommate that the "date" he'd brought home was gorgeous, and the roommate had none of it — the kicker being that the roommate's fiance was also a cross-dressing guy. Sound funny? Yeah, exactly. Also, it ripped off both American Beauty and The Graduate. Carrie and Garry liked it, but Brad thought it was too over-the-top and didn't really kill.

Four more, so

Will made me love him a little more with Unplugged, a love story between two desk lamps. I've thought for a long time that Will needs to get a deal with Pixar after this, and Unplugged really sealed the deal — couldn't you picture Luxo Jr. being one of those lamps? Carrie loved it but complained again about the lack of dialogue; Brad thought it was brilliant; Garry said ... something about lamps necking.

Andrew made the highly stylized Keep Off Grass, a superhero film with two antiheroes having an argument on a perfectly manicured lawn. The film ends with passionate, tornado-like sex that tears up a lawn, unbeknownst to the clueless gardener. It bugged me that the superheroes didn't destroy anything during the fight, and that was the main complaint the judges had with it too — except for Garry, who just loved it.

Sam made American Hoe, about a couple fighting over the stamps for their wedding invitation after the guy brought home the national farming series stamps (including one that says "the American hoe") instead of the love ones. And ... that's about it. Carrie said there wasn't enough to it, Brad said the characters had nowhere to go, and Garry said the two characters shouldn't have been getting married in the first place.

Jason finished out the night with Old Home Boyz, about a group of aging gangstas who get together for a 50-year reunion and end up having a dance-off to see who will end up with the girl they've both apparently always wanted to sleep with. I must have been watching a different movie from the judges, because I found it nearly unwatchable, but all three of them thought it was fantastic — and, in the case of Garry, even romantic.

When Adrianna asked the judges at the end of the night, Carrie liked Adam's film the most, Brad liked Jason's, and Garry was torn between Will's and Andrew's. Interesting.

Only one director will go home next week, and if I were choosing, I'd send home Sam, with Adam and Jason fighting for the next spot on my chopping block. By the way, if I heard correctly, the person with the most votes this week will get the (somewhat dubious) honor of having Jerry O'Connell star in his next film. Um, great. What did you think? Anyone still out there?

I HATED Jason's. I thought it was terrible, predictable, and you should never star in your own work!!! especially when you're one of the most boring people on the planet.
I loved Unplugged. Even though I'm still hoping Zach wins, I hope Will comes in second. I disagree with Carrie totally, I think the fact that he can pull these movies off with little to no dialogue is really impressive. One thing we learned in school was "Don't say it, show it." If people wanted to just hear everything, radio shows would be more popular. You can always get a writer to fix dialogue problems (well....maybe not when this writers strike happens).

Bonus Feature- Like Princess Crazy Carrie said, it looked like some ride at Universal studios, and a LAME one at that.
Girl Trouble- I saw the punch line coming as soon as I saw the “girlfriend” I felt like it was too forced, too cheesy
Unplugged- Pixar rip off, not funny or romantic.
Keep off the Grass- Oh Mylanta this one was HORRIBLE, superheroes? Fighting on some obviously deaf guys lawn, it needed more oomph.
American Hoe- The worst of the night in my opinion. Not funny, in fact I was aghast when she called him an idiot. Having sent out invites for a wedding, I didn’t relate, in fact I didn’t even give a rip what stamps went on them.
Old Home Boyz- My favorite it was very cute, funny, and I love little old men.